The Marvellous Miss Take (PC) Review

The story starts when Mrs. Agatha Take dies and her will is read. In that will it is written that Mr. Blackstock should inherit her entire art collection. However, something is fishy about that as those two were enemies and that Mrs. Agatha Take would give her art collection to him over her daughter Miss Sophia Take is unthinkable. Something is wrong and it is up to young Miss Take to correct this mistake by taking back the art collection from Mr. Blackstock. The problem is that said art collection is spread across his numerous art museums, which means that Miss Take has to go in there and steal them from under the nose of the guards. A rookie thief is born.

The Marvellous Miss Take might come off as a cheap and not very ambitious game to the untrained eye. This notion could not be more wrong. It all starts off with an impressive and well-developed tutorial stage in which the player learns how to move, trick guards, and use items - all of which are important features to trick the game and succeed. This clever level design is not only shown in this one level, but throughout the game it is remarkable how extremely well thought out each and every stage is.

This is a remarkable feat considering that there are two things that separates this from most other titles in the genre. First of all, there is no way to kill or incapacitate the guards in any way. This is just pure stealth action, which is a good change of pace from the modern games of this ilk that are more about finding sneaky ways to kill guards rather than actually using real stealth tactics. The second is even more remarkable, though, and that is that the guards are not moving in a specific pattern, but randomly. This makes it so that to beat this game it is important to learn actual hiding manoeuvres rather than figuring out the simple pattern of movement, creating a unique experience in a genre that usually encourages players to memorise the exact location and routes of those that need to be passed.

Despite this, the levels are still balanced and well built to support this. The stages are also actually built like art galleries and not like levels of a stealth game per se. This is very refreshing and adds to the immersion.

As the story progresses, Sophia is accompanied by two other thieves: the old and halt master-stealth thief Harry and the young, light, pickpocket expert Daisy. Playing as these characters is important to find hidden paintings on each stage - once a stage is completed as Sophia, it can be played through as Harry and Daisy.

This might sound repetitive and tedious, but this game succeeds even with making replaying the same stages feeling fun thanks to the characters having their own unique features, strengths, and flaws.

Sophia is a good all round character; she can run, not too fast though, and she can use different items found throughout the stages, like teleporters and smoke bombs. Sadly, she has a habit of dropping her hat when detected and this is needed otherwise the level cannot be completed. Her stages are focused on stealing big amounts of art fast to get bonus pictures.

Harry is a good stealth character, yet he cannot run, but he does have a ball that can be thrown to make noises to catch the attention of guards elsewhere. However, just like with Sophia's hat, he cannot leave the stage without it. His levels are focused on getting a few paintings (usually three) that have a more focused protection as the guards on his missions have night shifts.

Finally, there is Daisy, whose gameplay separates itself the most from the other two. She is fast and stealthy, but cannot use any items at all. Her missions are styled differently to those of the other two. Her missions involve stealing keys from guards and using them to unlock security boxes to pilfer money and deeds. To lift a key from a guard, she must sneak up behind them and stay there for a period of time, after which she must run to the security box and unlock it, setting off an alarm, meaning she has to shake off the guards or make sure they are far away before opening it.

This design is so clever because all the stages are built to support all these three characters' vastly different missions, which add to how impressive and well thought out the level design turns out to be. All this while succeeding in feeling realistic and avoid the unrealistic corridor-based stealth that is so common in other similar titles.

The Marvellous Miss Take also succeeds with its characters. It is maybe not a literary masterpiece, but the personalities are highly likeable and are both distinct and defining. Sophia, being the voice of reason and having a defined upper class aura around her, might seem unfit for a game like this, yet somehow she works. Harry, who is an old timer in the business, acts like a tutor to Sophia and Daisy, and while having an anti-hero feel he still has a heart of gold. Finally, Daisy, who is a young and wild girl who has no respect for law and authority, makes a colourful and harsh contrast to the upper class woman Sophia. This trio interacts with each other in a wonderful and sometimes comical way that shows just how much opposites can complete a whole picture.

The Marvellous Miss Take is something rare in an era where pure stealth games seem to be forsaken, cast out to the land of cheap F2p Flash titles like The Classroom. It succeeds at what it does and with clever and well designed levels it is a must have for anyone who is into these type of titles.